Department for Transport

Railways: Concessions

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to the public purse so far of the national pilot scheme for the 26–30 railcard; and what estimate they have made of the potential cost to the public purse of making the scheme available throughout England.

baroness sugg: The 26-30 Railcard trial is being carried out by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), an association which includes all British rail companies and Network Rail. RDG are investigating the impact of the trial which will inform decisions moving forward regarding a potential roll out across Great Britain.

Railways: Concessions

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what, if any, subsidythey provide to train operating companies for the operation of the 16–25 railcard scheme.

baroness sugg: As set out in franchise agreements with train operators, the Department for Transport will receive a premium from them or pay out a subsidy based on a range of various measures that the franchisee is asked to deliver, of which railcards are one. It is not possible to disentangle all of the individual elements that contribute to a Train Operating Company’s subsidy.

Railways: Concessions

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people who will apply for a 26–30 railcard once fully rolled out throughout England.

baroness sugg: The 26-30 Railcard trial is being carried out by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), an association which includes all British rail companies and Network Rail. RDG initially made available 10,000 tickets for the first wave of this trial followed by a further 10,000 for the second wave. They are investigating the trial and evaluating its impact which will help inform the decision making process regarding a potential roll out across Great Britain.

First TransPennine Express

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whetherthey have agreed to the use on some routes operated by TransPennine Express of trains which are not able to accommodate wheelchairs; andwhat assessment they have made of whetherthose trains are compliant with disability rights legislation.

baroness sugg: The Rail North Partnership team (which manages the franchise on behalf of the Department and Transport for the North) have been advised by TransPennine Express that they do not intend to operate Mk3 coaches in passenger carrying service.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

EURATOM

lord hunt of chesterton: To ask Her Majesty's Government which components of Euratom's work programme will the UK participate in following the current negotiations; and whether those will include regulation, safety, energy coordination, and long term research and development of fusion and nuclear waste policies.

lord henley: The Government’s strategy is to seek a close association with Euratom, to the mutual benefit of the UK and the EU, and to provide maximum continuity for the civil nuclear sector. The components of this future relationship with Euratom are subject to negotiations with the EU. The UK will also seek to fully associate itself with the Euratom Research and Training Programme, including the Joint European Torus (JET) and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and recognises that such an association would necessarily involve an appropriate financial contribution in line with other associated countries.

New Businesses: Females

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment theyhave madeof the availability of funding for female entrepreneurs.

lord henley: This Government is committed to ensuring that all businesses and business owners have the right support. There are now approximately 1.2 million women-led small and medium-sized businesses in the UK.The Government’s assessment is that funding, both equity and debt, is widely available to support entrepreneurs regardless of their gender. The report Small Business Finance Markets 2017/18 published by the British Business Bank notes that the value of equity investment (up 79%), asset finance (up 12%) and peer-to-peer business lending (up 51%) used by smaller businesses all showed significant growth in 2017.There are 38 Growth Hubs across England providing support to help businesses start-up and grow. The Business Support Helpline also provides information and guidance to people across England - 45% of users in 2015/16 were women.The Government-backed British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans provide funding and support to new entrepreneurs, of which 39% have been issued to women. The British Business Bank is also conducting research to identify ways to overcome the specific barriers faced by female-led Businesses in accessing Venture Capital. In collaboration with the Enterprise Research Centre they are gathering data from over 50 VC firms and are now commissioning behavioural research in this area.

Department of Health and Social Care

Pupils: Measurement

lord brooke of alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they track the weight of school children between the ages of 12 and 16; if so, how this is done; and how the results are communicated to all the parents of the children so measured.

lord o'shaughnessy: The weight of school children between the ages of 12 and 16 is not tracked nationally.Data is collected on the height and weight of children aged 2-15 in the Health Survey for England (HSE). Around 2,000 children (aged 0-15) take part in the survey each year. Information is collected through an interview and, if participants agree, a visit from a specially trained nurse. In 2016 the sample contained 2,056 children of which 1,117 children had a nurse visit.The HSE is a sample survey for the purposes of providing statistical information on the health and lifestyles of people across England. It is not designed to report back to parents on their child’s weight.

Department for International Development

Bangladesh: Rohingya

lord ahmed: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations, if any, they have received about any issues in relation to safeguarding or sexual abuse of Rohingya women and children in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; and what action they intend to take in response to such issues.

lord bates: We recognise that Rohingya women and girls face risks in the camps including domestic violence, sexual harassment, forced labour and sexual exploitation. DFID is helping to provide services including psycho-social counselling, reproductive health services, child-friendly spaces, safe shelters and legal advice. We are also providing essential support for personal safety, including improved lighting and alarms to help keep women and girls safer.

Syria: Overseas Aid

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Secretary of State for International Development to the Friends of Syria All-Party Parliamentary Group on 28 May, which are the 15 agencies funded by the Department for International Development to implement projects in Syria.

lord bates: DFID is now funding 18 agencies implementing projects in Syria. These include UN agencies, international NGOs, and some private sector companies. Aside from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, we have agreed with partners not to disclose publicly their identity because doing so could put their staff at risk.

Burma: Overseas Aid

baroness sheehan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to commission a transparent review of UK aid spending in Myanmar.

lord bates: In the light of events in Rakhine State since 2017, DFID Burma has undertaken a full strategic review of all its programming. As a result, DFID Burma is shifting its approach to focus more on inclusion, conflict-affected areas and groups, displaced populations and a more robust engagement with government. These efforts continue to support the long-term democratic, peace and economic transitions. A summary of the DFID Burma programme will be published in July alongside the DFID Annual Report 2018-19. Details of all DFID Burma programmes are published on the Devtracker website.

Department for Education

Pupils: Personal Records

lord storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to inform schools that they no longer need to collect data on pupils' nationality and to remove any such information from their records.

lord agnew of oulton: School census requirements are published annually on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-census. The requirements for 2018/19 will be published shortly.

Schools: Transport

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of children in rural England who no longer have access to free school transport as a result of cutbacks to free transport services by local councils; and what istheirpolicy on the provision of school transport in rural areas.

lord agnew of oulton: The government does not centrally collect data on the number of children who receive free transport.Local authorities consistently spend approximately £1 billion per year on home to school transport.Local authorities must provide free transport from home to school for eligible children. This includes transport for those who attend their nearest suitable school where it is beyond the statutory walking distances of two miles for children under eight years old and three miles for those aged eight to 16. They must also provide transport where there is no safe walking route. Approximately 60% of this funding is spent on transport for children with special educational needs.

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Employment

baroness stroud: To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of adult offenders were in employment one year after (1) a caution, (2) a conviction, and (3) release from prison, in each year since 2012.

lord keen of elie: We do not currently hold the data as requested. We are working with HM Revenue and Customs and Department for Work and Pensions to capture this information in the future. From a previous joint exercise between the Ministry of Justice, HMRC and DWP to analyse the links between employment, benefits and reoffending, we know that in 2011-12, one year after a:- police caution: 40% of working age offenders were in P45 employment- release from prison: 17% of working age offenders were in P45 employment Securing employment after a sentence has a positive impact on rates of reoffending. Offenders who found P45 employment in the twelve months after release from prison had one year re-offending rates that were 6-9 percentage points lower than similar offenders who did not find employment.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Affordable Housing

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government why they are proposing to remove the term "social rent" from the glossary definition of affordable housing on their proposed new National Planning Policy Framework.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: In the draft National Planning Policy Framework we have consulted on a revised definition of affordable housing for planning purposes. The proposed definition does not remove social rent as a type of affordable housing. The Government’s rent policy sets out guidelines for rent setting for social rent properties and is specifically referenced in the proposed definition. We are considering whether any further amendments to the definition are needed in the light of the comments received, and intend to publish a final version this summer.

Housing Associations: Rents

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the annual one per cent rent cut on the ability of housing associations to deliver effective services to their tenants.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Government’s published Impact Assessment (attached) is available online: https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006F.pdf. The 2017 Global Accounts (published by the Regulator of Social Housing) report that the housing association sector continues to be financially robust, with a total net surplus of £4.1bn - up from £3.3bn in the previous year.



Impact assessment
(PDF Document, 63.81 KB)

Council Housing: Greater London

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the plans by the Mayor of London to provide grant funding to local authorities in London to build council housing.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Mayor has responsibility for housing delivery in London.At Spring Statement 2018, the Chancellor announced that we will be providing London with an additional £1.67bn from the Affordable Homes Programme to support the Mayor to build a further 26,000 affordable homes. Two-third will be homes for rent, including at social rent. This has increased our investment in London to over £4.8bn for at least 116,000 affordable homes by March 2022.We are providing the Mayor with the investment to deliver the affordable homes that London needs, working with Housing Associations and Local Authorities.

Travellers: Equality

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication of the End of Mission Statement of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance at the Conclusion of Her Mission to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in May, what assessment they have made of the lack of teachers from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities, the over-representation of GRT children in secure training centres, and the lack of data on the experience of GRT persons in the criminal justice system.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Government is concerned about the inequalities experienced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, particularly in health and education. The Race Disparity Audit identified that Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities are amongst the most disadvantaged groups in British society and we are committed to do more to make sure nobody in this country is excluded or left behind.The United Kingdom has a close working relationship with United Nations bodies and a standing invitation to all Special Rapporteurs, and is committed to upholding the rule of law and the rules-based international system. The Government welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s visit, and will provide further information to the Special Rapporteur as necessary. We will respond to the Special Rapporteur’s country visit findings, conclusions and recommendations when these are presented to the Human Rights Council.

Ministry of Defence

Military Decorations

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byEarl Howe on 13 June (HL8397), whether 5 star officers and retired Heads of Service were treated in the same fashion with regard to long service and good conduct medals.

earl howe: Long Service and Good Conduct Medals were awarded to officers holding five-star rank and, for retired four-star Heads of Service, those who were in Regular Service after 29 July 2014.

Home Office

Peers: Correspondence

lord pearson of rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Home Secretary will respond to my email of 27 May concerning the arrangements for the protection of Tommy Robinson in prison.

baroness williams of trafford: The safety of all prisoners under assessment, is a priority for this government, and where threats to a prisoner’s safety are identified, measures are taken to mitigate these.

Police: Biometrics

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the annual report of the Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material, published in March; and whether they intend to bring forward legislation to govern the use of automated facial recognition by the police.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government published its response to the Biometrics Commissioner’s Annual Report on 5 June on the gov.uk website.On the issue of legislation on police use of automated facial recognition, I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to his question HL8083 on 4 June.

Immigration: Windrush Generation

the lord bishop of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 24 May (HCWS722), how many non-documented Commonwealth citizens, other than those from Caribbean nations, have been removed from the UK while claiming to have been settled here (1) on 1 January 1973, and (2) between 1973 and 1988.

baroness williams of trafford: The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.The Home Secretary has committed to regularly updating the Home Affairs Select Committee on the Department's review of all removals and immigration detentions, dating back to 2002, of Caribbean nationals now aged over 45 (i.e. born before 1.1.73), to establish whether any could have entered the UK prior to 1973 and therefore might be protected by the Immigration Act 1971.We want to take stock of the emerging findings of this initial work before going further.

Refugees: Children in Care

baroness stroud: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children who entered the UK under (1) the Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme, and (2) section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 (a) have been placed in local authority care, and (b) remain in local authority care; and in which local authorities they were placed.

baroness williams of trafford: Unaccompanied children arriving in the UK through the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme and Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 are placed into the care of a local authority. Placements for these children are secured from local authorities voluntarily participating in the National Transfer Scheme.However due to the inherent vulnerability and relatively small numbers of this cohort, the Home Office does not publish a breakdown of such children entering and leaving local authority care.

Refugees: Employment

baroness stroud: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people granted refugee status were in employment in the UK (1) one year, and (2) five years, after refugee status was granted.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office does not collect the information required to calculate the total number of people granted refugee status who are in employment in the UK for any point in time.We recognise the difficulties refugees can face when looking for work. We have funded a pilot project to provide additional employment support to refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and we will share the learning from this pilot with the Department for Work and Pensions and others. We continue to work closely with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that refugees are aware of, and receive, the support they are entitled to.

Cabinet Office

Regulation

lord smith of clifton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many regulatory agencies were operating in the UK in 2017–18; and what was the total annual running cost of those agencies.

lord young of cookham: 61 Arm’s Length Bodies with regulatory functions are listed in the Cabinet Office publication Public Bodies 2017. Many of these bodies also have non-regulatory functions. This publication does not include regulators operating as part of Government departments, outside central government, in devolved or local government, nor those which remain unclassified. The running cost of these bodies is set out in Public Bodies 2017, but this includes the cost of non-regulatory functions – the running cost of regulatory functions is not separately identified.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

National Lottery

lord chadlington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the measures that Camelot has in place to address gambling related harm; and of the case for Camelot to provide GambleAware literature at the point of sale of National Lottery products.

lord ashton of hyde: Requirements around player protection are set out in the National Lottery operating licence, overseen and regulated by the Gambling Commission. Under the terms of the licence, Camelot are required to produce and implement an underage and excessive play strategy, which I attach. This is available at: https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/responsible-play/consumer-protection-strategy. This is reviewed and approved annually. The Gambling Commission also regularly monitors and engages with Camelot on the measures that it has in place and its progress on its plans to improve them. Additionally, the Gambling Commission makes periodic assessments of Camelot’s performance on player protection and its recent business plan states that it intends this year to assess the effectiveness of the current and future protections in place for National Lottery players. GambleAware commissions treatment services for gambling related harm. This includes GamCare, which provides a helpline and private counselling for anyone affected by problem gambling. GamCare’s helpline and website are advertised on scratchcards, draw tickets and the National Lottery website and in 2017 Camelot increased its contribution to GambleAware from £190,000 to £300,000 per year. 



CONSUMER PROTECTION STRATEGY
(PDF Document, 157.37 KB)

Gambling: Surveys

lord chadlington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for reinstating the British Gambling Prevalence Survey.

lord ashton of hyde: Following the British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) in 2010 it was decided to include questions about gambling participation and the experience of gambling problems in national health surveys. Since then, data from the 2012 and 2015 Health Surveys for England and Scotland as well as the Problem Gambling Survey Wales 2015 has been used to assess rates of problem gambling. The health surveys have a similar methodology to the BGPS and target the same population group, while also allowing for cross-referencing of health and demographic variables with those related to gambling. There are no plans to change this method of data collection. The Gambling Commission also monitors gambling participation and prevalence through quarterly telephone and online surveys with people aged 16 and over in Great Britain, conducted independently by Populus. Each survey captures the past four weeks’ gambling behaviour, including problem gambling estimates, consumer awareness of gambling tools and perceptions and attitudes towards gambling. These are collated into annual gambling behaviour reports.

Broadband

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their plans for delivering full-fibre to the premises broadband connections to the majority of homes and businesses by 2025; and what proportion of homes and businesses they plan to reach by (1) 2020, and (2) 2022.

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional investment will be available to deliver their plans for full-fibre to the premises broadband connections to the majority of homes and businesses by 2025.

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whenthey will publish a response to their Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review consultation which closed in January.

lord ashton of hyde: The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, launched in the Government’s Industrial Strategy, will set out the regulatory and policy changes that are needed to support investment in full fibre networks and deliver on the Government’s ambition, as announced by the Chancellor in his CBI speech for fibre rollout: 15 million premises covered by 2025 with a national network by 2033. The Report is due to be published in due course.